Vida Cotidiana en Peru/Everyday Life in Peru: Volkswagen Bugs

My favorite kind of car, the old-fashioned Love Bug Volkswagen Beetle, was very popular in Peru. I spotted a few hippie vans too. It seems Peruvians have a great relationship with Germany in business. Even my housemate, Franz, was German and was interning for the summer in Cusco. 

Mi tipo favorito de carro, el antiguo "Love Bug" Volkswagen Beetle, era muy popular en Peru. Espie' unos vans de hippies tambien. Parece que los peruanaos tienen buenas relaciones con Alemania en empresa. Aun my companer de casa, Franz, era aleman y esta interning por el verano en Cusco.

Cusco Bugs. :)

Volcanoes for Water in Guatemala: A Call for Help! :)

It's been an amazing week and a half so far at the NAPA-OT Field School in Antigua, Guatemala so far. I've been at clinics and in hospitals, at lectures and at the table with a wonderful host family. While my blogging has come to a near standstill with all the scholarly articles and volunteering/working of late, I do want to ask everyone for support. This Saturday I'll be joining Ecofiltro:one's Hike for Water up the Volcano called Fuego. I need to raise at least $135 to participate, all of which goes to buying Ecofiltro water filters, of terracotta and invented in Guatemala, for donate for purified drinking water for families in rural Guatemala. All I ask is $1 from everyone. Muchas gracias!

My street here. Yes- that's a volcano at the end. That one is named Agua (water!)./Mi calle aqui. Si, es un volcano al termino. Se llama Agua.

Puno!

La Region de Puno contiene Lago Titicaca (puma-piedra en Quechua), que lo sabia del video con Donald Duck. Visite' durante un fin de semana con todos los estudiantes de my Ecela programa.

The region of Puno contains Lake Titicaca (means puma-rock in Quechua) which I knew of from the Donald Duck cartoon. I visited during a weekend with all the students from my Ecela program.

Lago Titicaca: el lago mas alto del mundo./Esta en Peru y Bolivia./The highest lake (in elevation) in the world located in Peru and Bolivia.

Una casa muy rustico en Amantani. Crian los cuyes- ellos viven en la cocina!/A very rustic house. They raise guinea pigs (to eat)-they live in the kitchen.

Los servicios higienicos requieren que "flush" el inodoro por verter mucha agua del cubo abajo./The bathrooms required one to flush the toilet by pouring a lot of water from that bucket down the thing.

Encima del montana se llama Pachatata, el padre de la tierra, en el isla Amantani donde quedamos con familias locales/On top of Pachatata (Father Earth) mountain on the island of Amantani where we stayed with local families.

Las familias locales nos den una fiesta por la noche./The local families held a party for us.

Estamos bailando en la ropa tradicional para celebrar y calentarnos./We were dancing in traditional garb to celebrate our time with the locals and to keep warm. (I'm in the turquoise skirt and jeans).

Dia nueva, isla nueva. 500+ escaleras al pueblo en Taquile donde probe' (y disfrute'!) la trucha del lago./New day, new island- 500+ steps to the village in Taquile where I tried 9and enjoyed!) trout from the lake. 

Una isla flotante de Uros, hecho a mano. Increible! (Y modelos para El Gnomo a explorar.)/A floating island of Uros, made by hand. Increible! And there were models to demonstrate things which the Gnome explored.

Taxi! :)

Por fin, la ciudad de Puno fue muy fea. Pero Danielle y yo descubieron un mercado y exploraron./Finally, the city of Puno itself was ugly. But Danielle and I discovered a market (and a Wal-mart equivalent) and explored.

Museos en Repaso/Museums in Review: Historia Natural/Natural History

El Museo de Historia Natural está afiliado con una universidad en Cusco y está al lado de una iglesia (pero la Catedral no, otra) en la Plaza de las Armas en un edificio bonito y grande con un patio en dentro. El museo es muy pequeño, de dos salas. Incluye dioramas de los climas principales de Perú (la selva, la costa, la sierra), muchas animales indígenas disecados, ejemplos de los productos de agricultura y mostradores de la geología, fungí y botánicas importantes del país.

The Natural History Museum is affiliated with a local Cusco university and is next to a church (but not the Cathedral) in the Plaza en a beautiful, big building with a courtyard inside. The museum itself is very small with 2 rooms. It includes dioramas of the main climates of Peru (jungle, coast, and mountains), many indigenous animals in taxidermy form, examples of agricultural products, and displays of the notable geology, fungal, and botanical features of the country.

La sala principal. Casos tipicos de museums de historia natural./The main room. Cases typical of natural history museums- a bit Victorian but well-lit.

Un mono choro pero sin testiculos, tristamente. No evidencia de la competencia espermazoides./A howler monkey without testicles, sadly. No evidence of sperm competition.

No puede ser correcto. Que cuello largo!/This can't be right. What a long neck!

Pepinos. Pensaba que equivoco' porque a mi pepino significa un vegetal verde pero luego, en el hotel con Bryan,  lo comi para desayuno. Es como un durazno mas sabroso, sin peluje, con rayos morados./I thought that they made a mistake since to mi "pepino" means a green veggie, the cucumber, but later, in the hotel with Bryan, I ate one for breakfast. It's like a tastier peach without fuzz and with purple stripes. 

Millones de papas!/Thousands of potatoes!

Mucho maiz tambien en colores diferentes./Lots of corn too in different colors.

La puma!

Hay un caso de especimens estranos: un chivo con ocho patas, un ciervo con dos cabezas,  un cerdito con muchas colas. Un poco repugnante pero fascinante. /There's also a case of strange specimens: a goat with 8 legs, a dear with 2 heads, a piglet with multiple tails. It's repulsive but fascinating.

Al principio estaba decepcionada con el tamano del museo, pero porque me encanta los museos antiguos de historia natural y la informacion fue buena, cambie' mi mente. Vale los tres soles.

At first I was disappointed with the size of the museum, but because I'm fond of old museums like slightly macabre natural history museums and the info was excellent, I changed my mind. It's worth the 3 soles (about 1 American dollar.)

Arequipa!

Seeing as I fell behind on writing because of the whirlwind of shadowing and my last days in Cusco, I'm going to compromise and, using my real journal's notes for capturing, continue this blog as a photo-journalist-type exercise. 

Entonces, mi segundo fin de semana en Cusco fui a Arequipa. My second weekend I went to Arequipa:

Mis companeras del viaje-Heather, Daniela, y Danielle- y un volcan./my traveling companions and a volcano.

Otra montana y los planos. /Another montain and the plains.

Las vicunas salvajes. No puede domesticarlas porque rechazan a reproducir y necesitan correr./Wild vicunas. They can't be domesticated because they'll refuse to reproduce and need to run.

Muchas volcanes y las ofertas a los apus./Volcanos and offerings to the apues, gods of the mountains.

Danzas folkoricos del Canon Colca./Folkloric dances of Colca region.

Chivay, un pueblito donde quedamos./Chicay, the little town where we stayed.

El Canon Colca, el mas profundo del mundo!/Colca Canyon, the deepest in the world.

Los condores vuelen en el canon por la manana, endentro el canon y abajo las montanas. Son mensajes de la tierra al cielo en los mitos andinos./Condors fly in the canyon every morning inside and above the mountains. They're messengers from Earth to Heaven in Andean myths.

En la ciudad de Arequipa, La Ciudad Blanca, un pueblo colonial./In the city of Arequipa, the White City of the Colonial Era.

Ernesto el Gnome encontro' un amigo en una tienda de antiguedades./Ernesto the Gnome found a friend there at an antique shop.